


i will not ask (and neither should you)

by hyerewolf



Series: honey, ask me, i should know [6]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Song: Like Real People Do (Hozier), the tiniest cameo by yeojin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23409796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyerewolf/pseuds/hyerewolf
Summary: If she didn't know any better, Chaewon would think people around her are actually good.
Relationships: Park Chaewon | Go Won/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Series: honey, ask me, i should know [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1438996
Comments: 7
Kudos: 66





	i will not ask (and neither should you)

**Author's Note:**

> actually inspired in equal parts by the song and that "barn on the farm sessions" video.

If she didn't know any better, Chaewon would think people around her are actually good. They all helped each other, cared for one another, laughed and cried and worked together for the common weal.

But good people don't find their way to the old mansion in the center of a bog that might've as well been located beyond the edge of the world, so far removed from the society that whoever ended up there might've as well died, vanished without a trace. Good people don't have a habit of lurking in the shadows or keeping secrets even from their very own selves. Good people don't disappear without a word in the middle of the night only to never be seen again, good people don't make others afraid of them with a single twitch of their finger. Good people don't need to come here looking for shelter.

Still, when she first sees a dark-haired girl, no older than herself, stumbling out of the forest as the sun begins to go down behind the treetops, Chaewon has hope. Maybe she just got lost. Maybe she was just passing by. Maybe she was a trick her own mind was playing on her.

Then she notices a dirty bundle of cloth in the girl's equally dirty hands and the way she moves, like she's constantly ready to take off running. When the stranger comes closer, she notices her ripped and dirty clothes, twigs in her hair, stains of soil on her face, fingernails broken as if she dug herself out of a grave, and a sharp edge in her confused glare. The hope is lost, blown away like a candle.

She puts her gardening tools to the side, rises to her feet, dusts off her skirt and goes to greet the girl, slow and careful to show her she doesn't mean any harm, even if she's done enough in the past to be considered a threat.

"My name is Gowon," says Chaewon, her lips wrapping comfortably around the lie she's told many times already, "and this is a safe place. No one will harm you here."

The girl looks at her with an unreadable expression, something like a shadow crossing her face. They shake hands. The girl's skin's cold and clammy from holding the bundle in a death grip. Evidently human, just like the small, unsure smile on her lips, and the need to trust someone stirring in her eyes. Chaewon is hit with a strong smell of warm earth and water that's been still for ages.

When she speaks, the girl's tounge tumbles over the syllables like a rusty tool used for the first time in a while by someone not really used to it, and Chaewon can't tell if what comes out of her mouth is actually true or just an innocent lie like many others, "I'm Olivia Hye."

Chaewon leads her inside.

* * *

She's given a bath, a warm meal, new clothes - aa size too big and a little used, but still good - and a bed with clean sheets in a bedroom that just so happens to be already occupied by Chaewon. In return, none of the girls living in the mansion asked her any questions, but they gave no answers to any of Olivia's inquiries. While a young girl with two buns on top of her head takes care of Olivia's wounded palms, the blonde explains the rules of the house to her.

"No questions," she says as Olivia watches the fingers of her left hand being swabbed with something that should make her grazes sting. Her right, already taken care of, is clutching the cloth bundle she hasn't let go of all this time. "Especially about the past. Whatever you need to know, you'll be told."

The younger girl finishes with the dressing and nods at Chaewon, who dismisses her with a gentle, "thank you, Yeojin," before gesturing to Olivia to gather her belongings and follow her. She leads her upstairs, wooden steps creaking loudly under their feet.

"Everything we do here is for the benefit of us all. The garden, the orchard, the forest - we take care of them in turns, and the schedule is downstairs, next to the dining room door. Hard to miss." They turn a corner as Chaewon continues, "If you don't like the rules, you're free to leave any time. If you wish to stay, stay as long as you want to. Do you have any questions?" she asks when they arrive in the bedroom.

Olivia shakes her head _no_. Her sharp eyes study the other girl's features as her bandaged hand plays with the hem of the cloth bundle she's hugging to her chest. Her lips twitch. "Do you?"

"Yes," says Chaewon before she has a chance to bite her tounge. She clenches her teeth, cursing herself for not being more careful. "I'll see you at the supper," she muttersand leaves the room, Olivia's stare pinned to her back.

* * *

Something about Olivia makes Chaewon feel always on edge, as if she's in a close proximity of a predator, constantly ready to pounce on her, but at the same time the black-haired girl gives her a sense of security and safety she's rarely felt before. There's something both wild and deeply caring in her sharp eyes; something both untamed and endlessly trusting at the same time.

After that one time, Olivia hasn't asked her any more questions, and Chaewon has to admit she adapted to the life in the mansion fairly well. It took her several days, but she's learned to leave the cloth bundle on a shelf in their shared room, directly where she could see it from her bed, and it seemingly helped her with opening up. Now she helps with the chores dutifully and gets along with the others living in the house well enough to carry friendly conversations with any of them. Still, she's usually just within earshot of Chaewon, not close enough to really invade her space but never too far.

Despite never asking about anything, Chaewon notices that sometimes, when Olivia's eyes get dull and lifeless, she gives answers to things no one has ever inquired her about, or she pushes the conversation in just the right direction to hear what she wants to. Her answers are always vague and puzzling, and the answers she collects are unrelated to each other, but to Chaewon it still feels like playing with fire, letting the sparks get dangerously close to the dry splinters in her heart, and the feeling is addicting.

Chaewon doesn't know when it starts, but at one point she notes that it's been a week since Olivia last spent a whole night in her own bed. The girl developed a habit of finding her way into Chaewon's bed, sometimes after waking up after a particularly bad dream, other times not even bothering to pretend to fall asleep in her part of the room, going straight under Chaewon's covers instead, several times murmuring something about the cold even during the hottest evenings.

Olivia's hands refuse to heal, stubbornly keeping the grazes she was found with like morbid souvenirs. These hands, always dressed in bandages, gravitate torwards Chaewon; shy and unsure at first - gentle gestures, careful touches. A fingertip brushing over her hand, a shadow of touch in passing, an almost-there tap on the shoulder. They grow bolder with time - how long, Chaewon can't tell, but one afternoon she finds herself in the orchard with one of Olivia's hands settled gently on her cheek and the other resting on her back; and Olivia's lips pressed onto hers with such urgency as if only that could keep both of them alive.

Chaewon kisses her back, her heart fluttering in her chest like a small bird wanting to break free, her whole body singing like it has finally found it's purpose for the first time in forever, and her mind draped in the musky smell of warm, dark soil and still water that she grew to associate with the warmth of Olivia's embrace and the cold of her hands.

"My name is Hyejoo," the dark-haired girl whispers when they finally separate, her breath hot on Chaewon's lips.

"I'm Chaewon," says Chaewon, barely audible, leaning in again because Olivia's kiss makes her feel more alive than any amount of oxygen ever could.

* * *

When Chaewon wakes up one night, the other side of the bed is empty, yet still warm. With bleary eyes, she looks around, expecting to see Hyejoo somewhere near, like she's been since the first day, but the other girl is gone - and so is the bundle of dirty cloth that she's kept so well protected. Led by the worst kind of gut feeling, Chaewon jumps out of bed and runs to the window, heart beating hard. There's no way she'd be able to catch Hyejoo even if she ran out of the room now, but maybe, if she's still outside of the forest, maybe she'll hear her calling out, maybe she'll turn around, maybe she-

Chaewon freezes still when she notices the girl - not walking away and vanishing in the shadows, but on her knees, digging near the garden. Something dark lies by her feet, a shovel abandoned nearby. The girl reaches for the thing and looks around, as if checking for something. Chaewon, with a heavy heart and light head, slowly walks back to the bed, eyes still on the window.

After some time, Hyejoo slips almost noiselessly back into their room and under the covers. When the bed dips sligtly, Chaewon keeps her eyes closed. She feels familiar cold fingers brush away stray strands of hair from her face, catches the stron smell of cold air and damp soil.

She scoots closer to Hyejoo when the girl puts her arm around her waist.

"You're awake," says Hyejoo. It's a statement, but Chaewon lets out a hum of confirmation. She opens her eyes. The question bouncing around her in her head hangs heavy in the air, unasked and unanswered.

Hyejoo lifts Chaewon's chin and kisses her, gently, almost apologetically.

If she didn't know any better, Chaewon would think Hyejoo is actually a good person.

**Author's Note:**

> twt/curiouscat: @bbywolfs
> 
> (speeds away)


End file.
